


Acquaintances, then Lovers, then Friends

by weakinteraction



Category: Lip Service
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Injury Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 09:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21097127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/pseuds/weakinteraction
Summary: An accident changes the course of several people's lives, including bringing Tess and Lexy closer together.(No-death AU diverging from S2E2.)





	Acquaintances, then Lovers, then Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).

When Tess finally caught up with Cat, she was on the corner of Franklin Road.

"Cat! Cat!" she shouted, as she had been doing all the way. The people she'd run past probably thought that she'd lost her pet, but that she'd deserved it for giving it such an unimaginative name. When instead all she'd really done is fuck up by freaking out at her best friend fucking her roommate, and then made it worse by heading off to the shower as though it was the moral high ground. At least she'd realised that was a mistake quickly enough to come running out here in her entirely inappropriate rehearsal outfit.

Cat finally turned around, stood in between the parked cars.

"Cat, listen," she said. Then, "Look," as though she couldn't work out which sense was more important. "I'm not going to tell Sam. Or anyone." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "About you and Frankie."

"You don't--"

"But you should," she said, the words sounding much louder once she'd said them than she could have imagined. "You should," she said again more quietly. "I mean, if it's what you want--"

"I don't know what I want, do I?" Cat shouted. "If I did, don't you think--" She looked down at her watch. "Look, I'm going to be late for Sam, I have to ..."

Something else on her wrist seemed to have grabbed all her attention: a bracelet Tess hadn't seen before. She started to try and twist it off as she began to cross the road--

Afterwards, Tess couldn't work out how she'd been able to see it all so clearly, react so quickly. There was just a succession of frozen moments.

Cat hadn't seen the car coming.

She was walking out.

The car's tyres screeching as it braked -- too late.

Cat, confusion on her face turning to shock as Tess rushed forward to shove her out of the way.

The sickening sound as the car impacted.

The driver, scrambling to get out, apologising over and over. Cat, rushing over.

Then the pain.

Then nothing.

* * *

When Tess woke up, the ward seemed suffused with light and, although the curtains were closed around the bed, she had the strange sensation of knowing that it was nearly empty.

Ed was sitting at her bedside, so engrossed in his book that he didn't notice straightaway that she had returned to the land of the living.

"Hey," she said, and the sound of her own voice was distant, as though someone else was speaking and her ears were relaying a fourth-hand report of a rumour they'd once heard.

"Oh," Ed said, scrambling to his feet unnecessarily, his book falling to the floor. He fussed around, picking it up and finding his place before putting it down spine upwards on the cabinet by her head. "You're awake, good. I'll go and find Lexy. She can explain it better. But she said to tell you it's not as bad as it looks."

Slowly, Tess came to realise that both her legs were suspended in mid-air in casts. "Looks ... pretty bad to me," she managed before slipping into a half-awake, half-dreaming state.

Time passed, though she wasn't really aware of it, and then Lexy was there, smiling down at her. "You're going to be fine."

"I'm going to be fine," Tess echoed. "I mean, you're here, so ... I've got an angel looking after me."

"Yeah, that'll be the morphine talking," Lexy said.

Oh, god, morphine. That suddenly made a _lot_ of sense. And shit, had she really said that out loud? But Lexy was talking again, or had carried on talking, and she was smiling, just a little bit, so maybe it wasn't quite as mortifying as it needed to be.

"You are," Lexy was saying. "Going to be fine, I mean," she added hurriedly.

"Right," Tess said.

"You know, you probably saved Cat's life," Lexy said.

"She was here," Ed put in. "She wanted to-- But anyway, it was all very sudden."

Something about the way he said it cut through the haze. "_What_ was all very sudden?" Tess demanded.

"She's gone," Ed said, sounding as though he still couldn't really believe it. "Cat's gone."

* * *

It turned out that Frankie had had a chance to work in New York, and Cat had decided to go with her. Maybe Frankie had always been able to go back to New York and pick things up there, and had just hung around in Glasgow because that was where Cat was.

It was a week after the accident that Cat's long, complicated letter arrived ("She only sent me a postcard," Ed had complained). Full of apologies and not-quite-justifications, about how it was better for everyone if she and Frankie made a new start where they couldn't hurt anyone else. When Sam came by, it turned out she'd received an even thicker envelope, but still hadn't opened it.

It turned out she had to spend two weeks in hospital. That was never exactly going to be fun, but Lexy's presence made it tolerable.

Well, no, not really. Being stuck in hospital was shit, especially the part where as a result they recast her part in _Uncle Vanya_. Hugh was the only one who visited, though mainly, it seemed, because he missed having someone to talk to about the disintegration of his marriage. But anything involving Lexy's presence was always great, on some completely different scale that was nothing whatsoever to do with broken legs.

And Lexy did seem to be coming by her bed fairly often, more often than -- at least in Tess's mind -- was required by either professional duty or roommate loyalty. She was even getting to know her friends -- Bea, who was a bit off with her, but also the man whose name really actually was Dr Love, who was good fun. He had started to visit Tess by himself.

When the time finally came to leave, the way Lexy supported her across her back as she got off the bed felt very intimate.

* * *

"You fancy Lexy, don't you?" Ed said, in a quiet moment between DVDs. He had brought home a bumper haul from the launch party his agent had made him attend. He said it would have been much more fun if Tess had been able to come.

Tess put her head in her hands. "Oh god, is it that obvious?"

"You did call her an angel when you first woke up," Ed said. "That was my first clue."

"I hadn't heard about that particular little detail," Sadie said, suddenly poking her head round the doorway. Surprise Replacement Roommate hadn't made many appearances at the hospital, though Lexy had explained what had happened with her unofficially taking over Frankie's tenancy, and she'd been surprisingly thoughtful about bringing things Tess needed. Less so about keeping the noise down when she was fucking her one-night-stands, but you couldn't have everything.

"Wait, you know too?"

"I knew long before he did," Sadie said. "But then he is a bloke, isn't he? Needs to have everything spelled out."

"Hey!" Ed said, before admitting defeat. "Yeah, I suppose."

"It's not just 'cos you're straight," Sadie added. "Look at the way gay blokes carry on. They just have the benefit of everyone wanting everything spelt out."

"You know," said Tess, "I'm not sure that's very fair. There are plenty of lesbians--"

"Can't deny that," Sadie said. "I do have a mirror, after all. I think the real point is, you're not one of them, are you?" With that, she stalked off again, whether to fix herself a meal or return to some conquest in her room, who knew?

Tess looked at Ed glumly. "She's right, isn't she?"

"You're not exactly going to be awarded the 'Most Likely To Take The Initiative In A Romantic Relationship' prize," Ed said.

"You just watch me," Tess said, starting to rise off the sofa to make a dramatic gesture before realising that her crutches had fallen just out of reach and flopping back down. "You'll see ..."

"More Doritos?" Ed said.

Tess admitted defeat for now. "Yes please," she said.

* * *

Lexy tended to check in on her whenever she got home from the hospital, even if it was really late. They'd stayed up talking for hours on more than one occasion.

Gambling on this, and stung by Ed's words, Tess had -- with some difficulty in the bending over to reach her knicker drawer department -- put on some of her sexiest underwear.

"Are you all right, hon?" Lexy said. "I've got some beers in the fridge if--"

"I'm fine," Tess said, letting the covers slip away from her upper body.

"Oh, bloody hell, are you expecting company?" Lexy said. "I can-- I mean, if you need me to open the door for them."

"I fancy you," Tess blurted out. "I mean, not _just_ fancy, I think you're great, and you've been amazing while I've been laid up, and you're a right laugh, and a fantastic roommate. But I do fancy you. You know, a lot."

Lexy tucked her hair behind her ear, and looked down at the floor, a surprisingly sheepish gesture coming from her. "Yeah, I know."

"You do?" Tess said. "I mean, you do, that's great, and it's not as though everyone else hadn't figured it out, and it means that this is all so much less awkward-- Unless ... you don't fancy me? ... Because that would be way more awkward."

Lexy came and sat on the bed next to her. "No, I do. God help me, I do."

"Well, that's great," Tess said. "Wait, what do you mean, 'god help you'?"

Lexy put a hand on her cheek. "You're not my usual type." Before Tess could express any of the indignation that this comment aroused in her, Lexy went on, "You're nowhere _near_ fucked up enough, for one thing. But all this time we've spent together because of your legs, I-- Yeah, I've fallen for you. I think you're great too. Hell, you'd be perfect for me. But ... I've had a lot going on." She sighed. "And I guess, I've been worried that because I've been looking after you, even if not actually as your doctor any more, it would be one of those grey-area ethical thing--"

"If that's your only concern, I'm completely willing to be taken advantage of," Tess said, with utter sincerity.

"You fancy me that much, do you?" Lexy said, the smile that Tess found so alluring returning to her face. Whatever worries she'd been dealing with, she'd obviously decided to place them to one side.

"Well, that and I'm extremely horny," Tess said. "You have _no idea_ what being nearly completely immobile for weeks does for a girl's libido."

"Sounds like you need some attention from someone who knows how not to exacerbate your injuries," Lexy said.

"When I went in yesterday they said it would only be another couple of weeks," Tess said. "I'm sure I can handle it."

For a moment she saw Lexy's smile widen further, and then she couldn't see it all because Lexy was kissing her.

* * *

The Tron gave her complementary tickets to the opening night of the play she had been supposed to star in. She'd still been unsure whether she should go even as Lexy was propelling her out of the door, insisting that she needed to get out of the house, now that she could.

It turned out she wasn't the only person to have been recast; Hugh was gone from the title role, something about him having breached a restraining order. The new cast seemed to have been drawn entirely from the Nora Fan Club, entirely willing to sublimate their own performances to hers.

"OK, I do actually know this play," Lexy said during the intermission, "and I'm pretty sure that Yelena isn't the main character."

Sadie nodded vigorously. "You were better off out of it, babe."

"So who is she again, playing Yelena?" Ed asked, looking through the programme to find the answer to his own question.

"You're not a fan of _Cardiac Care_, then?" Tess said.

"It's not really my thing," Ed said. "But then again, I suppose I could be persuaded to give it a try ..."

"Tess could probably introduce you," Lexy said.

"You could?" Ed said. "Really?"

Tess glared at Lexy, who shrugged back at her.

"'S only fair," Sadie said. "Now that you're getting some, you should help him out."

"But she's aw-- Oh, go on, then, we'll go backstage afterwards." Tess had a sudden inspiration. "Make sure you mention your film deal to her."

* * *

They were halfway into another loud night at Rubies when Tess noticed the date.

She leaned across to Lexy and half-shouted over the din, "You realise that it's exactly a year since we were here the first time."

Lexy accidentally spat out her drink. "Oh god, is that why you brought me here? Some sort of anniversary thing?"

"We come here every time we go out," Tess pointed out. "It's not like there are _that_ many gay bars in Glasgow. Certainly not ones so close to the flat."

"There's that new place--" Lexy began, but as she tailed off Tess saw the light in her eyes fade with the memory of how bad a night that had been.

"Anyway, no, I didn't say we should come here on purpose," Tess said. "I just thought of it. But it _is_ our anniversary."

"Yeah, but it's not, though, is it?" Lexy persisted. "That was 'let's take this person out for a drink to check that she's not a complete weirdo'. And, you know, everyone else was there, Sam and Cat and Frankie and--" She stopped again. "Anyway, that wasn't a date, is my point."

"It's still the first time we went out together," Tess said, deciding right there and then that she _definitely_ shouldn't admit that it was 100% the anniversary of her falling in love with Lexy.

"All right, all right, in the spirit of compromise," Lexy said, "let's call it our roommate-versary."

Tess clinked her bottle against Lexy's. "To our roommate-versary!"

"Roommate-versary!" Lexy said, glaring at the people at the next table who had turned around to stare.

Tess leaned in close. "You realise this means we just get to celebrate two different anniversaries."

Lexy leaned back to give her a quizzical look. "Wait, when are you counting as the other one? Because, you know, given that whole restricted mobility thing, it's pretty easy to argue that we fucked before our first actual date."

Tess shrugged. "Three anniversaries, then!"

"I walked into that one, didn't I?"

* * *

"Is something weird?" Tess said, as they lay in bed together later on that night.

"Lots of things are weird," Lexy said. "Sadie's new friend, for example."

"Old friend, I think," Tess said.

"I think she might be trouble," Lexy said. "Like, proper trouble, not just regular Sadie level trouble."

"OK," said Tess. "But I meant ... is something weird between us?"

Lexy twisted around in the bed to face her. "What? No. Why? I mean, that was good sex we just had. I know that."

"Oh yeah, really good," Tess said, a sudden heat flushing over her at the memory. "That's not what I meant."

"So what did you mean?"

"It just feels like you're a bit ... I don't know. Distant."

Lexy brushed Tess's hair away from her face. "You have to promise not to laugh."

Tess put her hand on her heart. "Promise."

"And you'll never mention it to Declan, he would never let me hear the end of it."

"That time I gave him information about your sex toy preferences was entirely inadvertent, you know that."

"I think I'm a bit freaked out, to be honest with you." Lexy leaned in to kiss her, as though to reassure her that she wasn't that freaked out, or Tess wasn't the cause of her freaking out, or something like that. "What you said back at Rubies, about anniversaries. I've never _had_ an anniversary before."

Tess giggled nervously before instantly clamping down on it, remembering her promise. "Really? Never?"

"I told you a long time ago, how I usually end up going for fucked up girls. Kind of puts a natural expiration date on my relationships that's way shorter than a year."

"Oh," Tess said. "Well, I mean, like you said, tonight isn't our real anniversary, is it?"

"No, but you were talking about it as though we definitely would have one, and ... and I was too. As though that made total sense. Because it did. Because ... it's you. But then I realised how weird that was, for me."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get used to it," Tess said. "I plan to make sure you have plenty of practice."

"Oh yeah? How much?"

"Well, let's make a plan to come back to this when we get to number ten, and see if you're still freaked out then."

"Sounds good," Lexy said. "Really good."

"Yeah," said Tess. "It does, doesn't it?"


End file.
